Ty Gibbs doesn’t like to give away his personality, especially beyond the fact that he’s a racecar driver at one of NASCAR’s top teams. If you look at his Instagram, almost all of his posts are strictly about racing, with only a handful showing anything about his actual life. But former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty thinks Gibbs might want to rethink hiding from the spotlight.
Kyle Petty highlights the choice Ty Gibbs has regarding his public persona
During a recent episode of the Gluck Cast podcast, Petty spoke about Ty Gibbs’ reserved approach to his image in public. The former NASCAR driver claimed that for someone who drives for a team owned by his family, he doesn’t have to be accountable to anyone and can do and be as he pleases as long as he’s able to win races and perform.
Advertisement
Still, Petty warned that if Gibbs stays closed off, it will ultimately hurt his legacy.
“His career will end when he gets out of a race car. If you don’t show your personality or you don’t show something extra or do something extra, then your career is just driving a race car,” Petty described.
“Kevin Harvick’s been able to go into TV. Clint Boyer, guys like that. I want you to think about their personalities outside the racetrack. They can parlay that into something else. Jeff Gordon parlayed it into something else. Richard Petty parlayed it into something. But think about the amount of drivers who couldn’t parlay it into something else. But they had great careers. They had a lot of race wins. They did a lot of stuff. Do you trade one for the other?”
Petty thinks it’s great when fans remember a driver for who they are, not just how fast they drove.
To Petty’s point, the best example for Ty Gibbs of a driver who performs inside the racecar but also gives fans something to cheer for or root against is his own teammate, Denny Hamlin. The JGR veteran has been vocal with his opinions and feelings throughout his career, constantly calling out issues with the sport or taking shots at his rivals. There’s also the example of Kyle Busch, who also managed to have a foot in both boats.
Advertisement
But Ty Gibbs simply doesn’t seem to be interested in becoming bigger than what he already is. Following his Bristol win, Gibbs admitted that he could be more famous and ‘a lot bigger’ in the NASCAR community if he wanted to. However, he doesn’t want to pursue that for a few simple reasons.
“I just enjoy privacy, I don’t really want to show off a lot, too. I just enjoy training on my bike, getting strong, working hard during the week. I’m not here to be a moving billboard. I don’t really care; I don’t have any social media on my phone at the moment. I just really enjoy racing and focusing on myself,” Gibbs described.
So while Gibbs doesn’t want to indulge himself in the pursuit of getting more attention, while remaining focused on his day job as a driver, one can’t help but think of another star driver whose personality and image in NASCAR fall along the same lines.
NASCAR’s most popular driver is also one of NASCAR’s quietest
While it might seem ironic that NASCAR’s most popular driver is also one of the most quiet and reserved ones, that is exactly the case with Chase Elliott. From the start of his career, the 2020 Cup champion has maintained a low-key image and a quiet nature.
Advertisement
This has often led to a set of NASCAR fans accusing him of being uninterested or not having enough personality. But Elliott claimed it is the opposite. He is interested, and he has opinions. He simply doesn’t like to voice them or show them to the world.
In a 2024 interview, he claimed, “I like the private life, outside of racing. What I like to do, I like it private. I like the fact that no one knows what I like to do.”
And despite his personality being criticized for his nature and lack of outspokenness, he has won eight consecutive most popular driver awards.
Therefore, if Ty Gibbs is also picking the same lane in terms of how he builds his image and legacy in front of fans, it’s not exactly a bad option.
Read the full article here